Welcome to Biointensive for Russia!

Biointensive for Russia is a people-to-people ecological gardening project, fiscally sponsored by Ecology Action. We promote GROW BIOINTENSIVE sustainable mini-farming (GB) through translated publications and seminars hosted by environmental groups and agricultural colleges in Russian-speaking Eurasia. We also support mini-farming experiments conducted by our partner organization the Grassroots Alliance PERESVET (Bryansk, Russia), in and near the Chernobyl radiation zone.

We have been promised a large grant, but unfortunately it has been delayed indefinitely. Once we receive it, we will pursue the goals described in the 2011 Garden Companion, which is posted here . These include two major workshops, expanded experiments in the Bryansk oblast', and continued editing and publishing of translations into Russian on GB and related topics. But for now, our scaled-down goals, for which you are sincerely invited to provide support, include the following.

Our partners at the Grassroots Alliance PERESVET experimented in 2012 on the uptake of soil lead into vegetables in three locations in their oblast'. They showed that two important techniques of GB, double-digging and composting, caused reductions of lead uptake of from 4 to 54 percent, depending on the type of vegetable and the amount of lead in the soil. For the full report and more information, see http://rinconvitova.com/lead_reduction_biointensive.htm. The report is also included in our latest newsletter.

PERESVET director Igor Prokofyev and his colleagues plan to complete their experiment during the coming growing season. Our friends at Rincon-Vitova Insectaries in Ventura, Jan Dietrick and Ron Whitehurst, have launched a fundraising drive (follow link in last paragraph) to provide the $1000 that will be needed to conduct this year's experiment. They have pledged a $500 matching grant, encouraging Rincon-Vitova's and BfR's friends and supporters (many of whom are from the hard-fought campaign in 2012 to enact Label GMOs legislation in California) to make up the full amount needed.

Our translation work

Natasha Demenkova, Dr. Igor Prokofyev, and Carol Vesecky are working steadily to complete the updated Russian translation of How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons, which was initially published in Moscow in 1993. The book is currently being computer typeset, hoping it can be made available to gardeners for the coming growing season. We are seeking a Russian publisher, and e-book and print-on-demand versions are also being considered. Donations are also being sought for the approximately $2000 required to complete this work. Other translations, including a second printing of The Sustainable Vegetable Garden by Jeavons and Cox, are in the pipeline.

Future workshops

These include an international workshop and conference at an educational center near Moscow ($25,000) and a workshop near Bryansk ($5000) to include teachers from the Chernobyl radiation zone. If we do not receive our grant eventually, we will apply for funding, so let us know if you can think of potentially friendly foundations!

For now, financial support will need to come from donors like yourself at whatever level is possible for you! Please to click to join us if you'd like to help; in return, we'll keep you up-to-date with annual paper newsletters and thank-yous. And if you haven't already done so, do sign up for our free email reports!

The map shows all the cities in Russia and Uzbekistan where we have held, or hope to hold, GROW BIOINTENSIVE workshops, or have competent teachers in our network.